Naming the favorite books of 2011 is a bit like rating children. There’s always some guilt involved because it would be easier to name the top 50. Books, not children. But space is a valuable commodity in any newspaper, so let’s get right to it.

1. The Sense of an Ending, by Julian Barnes.

Ever since Barnes came out with Flaubert’s Parrot, I’ve followed his work like a loyal dog. Barnes is one of those writers who can switch from the novel form to short stories and not miss a step. In The Sense of an Ending, Barnes is at his most fit as a writer in following the Everyman through middle age. When he meets up with some old friends, the past takes on a different meaning, too.

2. The Dovekeepers, by Alice Hoffman.

The wonderfully mystical work of Alice Hoffman takes a different turn than usual. The novel is set in 70 C.E., when 900 Jews held off the Romans at Masada, a mountain in the Judean desert. This is a story about common people of their time, gleaned from the ancient writings of Josephus. When the cloud of brutality fades, the survivors’ stories are as mesmerizing as anything written in 2011.

3. French Lessons, by Ellen Sussman.

Three people arrive in Paris for three different reasons. They meet up with French tutors and the entire novel unfolds in one day. How any writer can squeeze so much life, sex, and wonder into 24 hours is beyond me (not counting Ulysses). Ms. Sussman can create characters with the best writers of our time and when you set a novel in Paris – well, it might be best to close the curtains. An outstanding read.

4.Townie, by Andre Dubus III.

Watching the trajectory of Dubus’s career rocket upward gives all writers hope. Too bad we can’t all write like him. Townie is a story of a young boy growing up on tough streets of mill towns in Massachusetts. It’s a story about a broken family dealing with poverty. And it’s a story about a famous father who has disappeared into his own fame and how his children reconnect with him. The way Andre deals with the anger built up by all this is to become a bar fighter. He begins lifting weights with a passion and builds himself up physically so he can take the next step, throwing the first punch. In the hands of a lesser writer, this would all dissolve into a Charles Bronson script. But Dubus is just too talented to let that happen. It’s a fascinating story about love and violence and what happens with the two intersect.

5.Blue Nights, by Joan Didion.

If this novel doesn’t tug at your heart, it’s time to see a cardiovascular specialist. Quick. This could have been a story drenched in loss and sadness. But Didion, as close as this story is to her heart (it is the loss of her child, after all), handles it all with respect and aplomb. She is painfully candid as well when writing about the inevitability of death. The book builds around the recent death of Didion’s daughter, Quintana Roo, a blow from the fates that no one deserves. And yet through her utter frankness and wisdom, Ms. Didion shares all the heartache and suffering. It is the depth of Didion’s candor that makes this such a great and intense read and I recommend it as one of the best of 2011. Read it and you’ll understand why.

6. Arguably: Essays by Christopher Hitchens.

This is somewhat of a compendium of Hitchens’s work and the breadth of his essays is a joy. For one thing, Hitchens is one of the funniest writers of his time, but the real meat and potatoes of this book is the diversity and range of the collected material. His critical work can be found in many of our current periodicals and his views range widely. Hitchens was also not afraid to change his mind. He was a die-hard atheist and, in fact, wrote a book called, God is Not Great: How Religion Ruins Everything, then lauded men such as Charles Dickens, George Orwell, and Karl Marx. Tragically, Hitchens died all too early last week at age 62 from esophageal cancer. What a loss to the reading and thinking world, but thankfully, in collected volumes such as this you’ll come to understand what a munificent mind Christopher Hitchens possessed.

7. And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut: A Life, by Charles J. Shields.

You don’t get much more innovative in literature than a tome by Kurt Vonnegut. The title of this excellent biography is taken from the book (and subsequent movie) that truly put Vonnegut on the international literary map – Slaughterhouse 5 – and the repeating phrase: “And so it goes.” Vonnegut was a man of science, sometimes silly science, but never at the cost of a good story. Charles Shields, who also wrote the biography of Harper Lee, had a year’s access to Vonnegut’s letters and notes – grudgingly from Vonnegut, who, we might be surprised, wasn’t quite the bundle of laughs he served up so often in his novels.

8. A Visit from the Goon Squad, by Jennifer Eagan.

If we can agree that change is inevitable, we should all read this novel by Jennifer Eagan. Change and post-modernism is rife throughout the book, but start reading with little trepidation: you’ll soon get the drift. It’s a book filled with quirky people. It’s a time traveling novel, but the train never speeds up enough so that you can’t jump or off.

9. Hemingway’s Boat: Everything He Loved in Live and Lost, 1934-1961, by Paul Hendrickson.

What’s this? A book about Hemingway’s boat? What’s next? A novel about his six-toed cats? At one time, he had 40 of them roaming the property – a bad place to be a rat. Just when you think there might be enough Hemingway studies and biographies, the talented writer Paul Hendrickson comes along and, using Hemingway’s beloved Pilar as his focal point, uproots many myths and legends surrounding Papaand his beloved boat from the last 32 years of his life. Hendrickson pulls no punches and divulges details of little known facts – for instance, one of Hemingway’s sons, Gigi, was a cross-dressing doctor who died in poverty in a Miami women’s jail. But Hendrickson’s Hemingway is not the alcoholic tyrant as so many have portrayed. With skill and a deft touch, reality is rescued from rumor and made simple. It’s a fitting honor for Hemingway, who reinvented the English language without the adornments of excess verbiage.

10. The Cat’s Table, by Michael Ondaatje.

There are some books that take you in and refuse to let you go until the final page. Ondaatje has sculpted that kind of book about a voyage at sea, the voyage of a boy to a man, and some of the keenest observations of human behavior you’ll ever read. This is easily a book you will savor for years, but rush through on your first read. And then you can go back and savor the artist’s work. It’s just that good.

Well, that’s my list for 2011. These kinds of lists are always the object of different opinions, which is why they are so much fun (not to mention a huge privilege) to construct. No two lists should ever be the same. A good literary argument bruises far less easily, too. And remember, this is just one writer’s opinion – I’d love to read yours.